


Focus (Not Yielded by Patience)

by BlackKittens



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: another attempt to cure my own writer's block
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 11:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16764691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackKittens/pseuds/BlackKittens
Summary: Keith's blocked yet again on his latest manuscript. Shiro tries to get him to take a break.





	Focus (Not Yielded by Patience)

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly have no idea how well this turned out, but would you believe this took around an hour to write after deciding, "Fuck it, I have to write SOMETHING, JUST GET ANYTHING OUT!" ?
> 
> I didn't want to write another angst fic yet, but the fluff and interesting stuff wasn't coming to me. So I wrote about writer's block (kind of). I hope it's at least a little enjoyable.

"I hate writer's block," Keith spat as he leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes at the half-empty page on his screen. "I can't even go back to my outline now because that would mean deleting eight thousand words that _broke_ me out of last week's writer's block. UGH!"

From behind him, Keith felt Shiro's prosthetic hand land on his right shoulder and his chin plant itself on his left. He ignored it, continuing to glare at the screen.

"Baby," Shiro whispered, setting his coffee down on the kitchen table next to Keith's laptop so he could wrap his other arm around Keith's stomach, "It's seven in the morning. Isn't it a little too early in the morning to be this hard on yourself?"

"No," Keith grouched. "This was bugging me last night. I wrote twenty-six words between lunch and going to bed. It's like when I stopped yesterday morning, all the creativity left me! It vanished into thin air! As soon as I sat back down to write, my brain went dead and now I'm _stuck_ again. Why does this keep happening!?"

Shiro winced at his volume, raising his chin off his shoulder. "Baby, it's okay. You'll figure it out eventually, like you always do. Why don't you close the laptop for now and help me make breakfast? Neither of us are going to survive the day on coffee alone."

"Stopping to eat lunch yesterday blocked me."

Shiro rolled his eyes. "You would have ended up blocked within the next few minutes if you _hadn't_ stopped when you did yesterday. Come on, Keith. Take a break. Letting your brain relax for a bit might help; it's better than stressing yourself out for not coming up with anything."

Keith craned his neck back to glower at him. "Haru is falling to his death in the Black Abyss. Kenneth jumps in after him, grabs him by the collar, and stabs his knife into the side of the cliff to keep from falling. How do I get them out?"

Shiro shrugged, flipping his palms up. "A mystical being appears at the last minute and saves them from their doom?"

"I'm not dues ex machina-ing this, Shiro," he retorted stubbornly.

"What if the mystical being is a former captive the Haggard Witch who broke free and is, uh - it's power is quickly fading, and it only has enough strength to save Haru and Kenneth before it becomes an ordinary being again?" Shiro tried.

Keith pursed his lips, internally debating that. It might work; he would have to build a brand new back story for this so-called mystical being, but it could open new doors in the plot for later. His outline was a bust at this point anyway. Except...

"No," he decided in a matter of three seconds, "it's still too dues ex machina-y for me, Shiro. I want Haru and Kenneth to get out of this on their own."

"Can't Kenneth just climb the cliffside?" Shiro nearly whined, letting his shoulders slump. "He's half Ogalrin; they're super strong, aren't they? I think you already said something about Kenneth showing off his strength at - "

"Kenneth's been through hell in his battles up to this point," Keith interrupted to point out, twisting around in his chair so he could lay his arms on top of the back. "He doesn't have the energy to climb a hundred yards of cliffside with one hand while carrying an unconscious, one hundred and seventy pound sack of muscles. That'll never work."

Shiro groaned. "So let them fall into the abyss and bring them back as ghosts! Keith, baby, you're thinking about this too hard. Help me make breakfast, talk about real life while we eat, maybe go watch Vortoln: Legend of the Universe this morning instead of tonight, and _then_ you can get back to your writing. It's pretty clear you're not going to find all the answers right now."

Keith curled his lips. It was tempting, but he hated to leave his work in a rut. He would never get any further in the story if he didn't try to work it out. "Ehh..."

"Please?" Shiro leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. "For me? You've been working so hard this manuscript. Your deadline's not for another six months and you're already more than half way there. Give yourself a breather and spend some time with me. I promise it won't be boring," he ended with a teasing tone.

Keith frowned. Hold on a minute...

"Wait, am I NOT spending enough time with you?" he asked, sitting up straight, an epiphany hitting him like lightning. He really had been working on this story night and day with little free time, hadn't he? "Shiro, why didn't you just tell me I was neglecting us? Of course I'll take some time off to spend with you. You don't have to move the movie from tonight to this morning or throw ideas that won't work at me to pull me away. You could have just said so."

Shiro gave him a deadpan look. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, and paused a moment, thinking to himself. Finally, he smiled innocently. "Sorry, Keith. I just know how important this book is to you and how hard you're being on yourself. I didn't want to add on to your stress levels."

Keith's face softened. "No, you could never do that. I'm sorry if I've been neglecting us. Yeah, let's - " he turned around and snapped his laptop closed, " - make some waffles and eggs. Then we can take Kosmo to the park if you want. And come home and snuggle before lunch. But after that, I want to get back to work before we head out to see Vortoln. Just for a few hours, okay? The laptop gets shut at five o'clock, scout's honor!"

"Sounds good to me," Shiro replied sweetly. "Thank you, baby."

"Of course," Keith rose to his feet, picking up his laptop. "Let me put this away. Then we can get started on breakfast."

"Good idea!" Shiro shouted after him as he left the kitchen. Keith didn't hear him mutter immediately after, "Whatever gets you to stop beating yourself up. Geez, we need to work on this."


End file.
